Representing 1.5 billion people, Modi has an advantage on Facebook: Trump

PTI, Feb 21, 2020, 9:40 AM IST

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents “1.5 billion” Indians, has an advantage on Facebook, while referring to the number of followers the two leaders have on the social networking website.

Trump, who will visit India next week, said Modi is “number two” on Facebook in terms of followers and that he is number one as told to him directly by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“I’m going to India next week, and we’re talking about — you know, they have 1.5 billion people. And Prime Minister Modi is number two on Facebook, number two. Think of that. You know who number one is? Trump. You believe that? Number one. I just found out,” Trump said during his commencement address at the Hope for Prisoners Graduation Ceremony in Las Vegas.

As per official estimates, India’s population currently is 1.3 billion people.

Facebook pages on Thursday reflected that Modi is followed by 44 million people, while the account of Trump by 27 million. The US population is estimated to be 325 million.

During his address, Trump said he was recently congratulated by Zuckerberg for being the number one on Facebook.

“The head of Facebook Mr Zuckerberg came in three weeks ago. He said, ‘Congratulations.’ I said, ‘On what?’ He said, ‘You’re number one on Facebook.’ I said, ‘That’s cool.’ Number one on Twitter too,” the president said, amidst laughter from the audience.

“That’s because — it’s true. And if I wasn’t, I could never say it because it would be breaking news that Trump told a fib. No, number one,” he said, adding that he has congratulated Modi on this.

“And I congratulated Prime Minister Modi. I said, “But, you know, you have 1.5 billion people. I have 350 million. You have an advantage,” Trump said, during his commencement address referring to one of his conversations with Modi.

This is not the first time that the US President has claimed to be the number one and Prime Minister Modi number two on their popularity on Facebook. Last week, Trump took to Twitter and claimed to be the number one on Facebook citing Zuckerberg.

Even last month, in an interview to CNBC TV on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said, “I’m No.1 on Facebook, you know who’s no.2? Modi from India”.